Friday Writing Response for September 4, 2009

HEY LOOK YOU GUYS, I ACTUALLY WROTE THIS WEEK!

...Ahem. I did go back to the Andrew McMahon lyric prompts, though I ended up picking one not on the list I had posted before. It's still unfinished, but I wanted to get a snippet up before I forgot about it. The lyrics I used as inspiration came from Jack's Mannequin's "Bloodshot":

He sits in his basement from midnight 'til four
Painting pictures that nobody sees
From his days in the war
Canvases bathed in bright red
He heats up the shower,
He paces the hall
He'll scrub for an hour or more but he won't get it all
The paint in his fingernail beds...

Let me know what you think!


---


He'd known this was coming for a few days, but he didn't think Renee would actually pack it up and send it to him right away. Quentin would have much rather just picked it up the next time he went back to Kennebunkport, whenever that turned out to be. It was easier to deal with Kevin's death when every reminder wasn't constantly staring him in the face.

Thank god Renee also shipped him a case of beer with the model ship. Shipyard IPA, a local Maine brew and Quentin's favorite. He cracked open a bottle and took a long pull, staring at the miniature ship inside the bottle.

Model building and boating had been Kevin's big interests. He had them tucked in places all around the house he lived in, and every year he built one for their father at Christmas. Their parents kept them on display in the Drawing Room, a testimony to their favorite son's accomplishments. Once Quentin moved to his mini-apartment above the garage, he finally had a reason not to see his parents' favoritism rubbed in his face every single day.

He painted something for his father, once. A scene of the marina, like the one Quentin had planned to have tattooed on his back. Joshua James had given him that fake half-smile, patted his hair, and put the painting into storage. Never displayed it, like they did with Kevin's model boats.